Save Maize German Program

On January 13th, 2012, Maize High German students learned that the school decided to phase out the high school's program, which happens to be the only German program in the district. So the question becomes, "why should we save the German program?" Here are a few reasons why:

German opens up great business opportunities. Germany has the largest and most stable economy in the world. German would only help in the business world.

It looks good on an application. Most people take Spanish because it is widely spoken in the United States along side English, of course. It is far more common on an application than German is. German helps your application stand out.

Helps ACT/SAT scores. Learning another language has been proven through studies that it raises your ACT/SAT scores, as does studying a lot of English.
  • Students of foreign languages tend to score higher on standardized tests. Results from the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) show that students who had studied a foreign language for 4 or more years outscored other students on the verbal and math portions of the test. (College Board 2003)
  • Students who completed at least four years of foreign-language study scored more than 100 points higher on each section of the SAT than students who took a half year or less. (College Board 2004)
  • Students who studied four or five years of a foreign language scored higher on the verbal section of the 2004 SAT than students who had studied any other subject for the same number of years. (Cooper 1987; Eddy 1981)
  • Other studies correlate bilingual proficiency with higher scores on standardized tests and tests of both verbal and nonverbal intelligence (Caldas & Boudreaux, 1999; Hakuta, 1986; Thomas, Collier, & Abbott, 1993)
  • Foreign language learners consistently outperform control groups in core subject areas on standardized tests often significantly.(Armstrong & Rogers 1997, Saunders 1998, Masciantonio 1977, Rafferty 1986, Andrade, Kretschmer & Kretschmer 1989)
  • People who are competent in more than one language consistently outscore monolinguals on tests of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. (Bruck, Lambert, Tucker 1974, Hakuta 1986, Weatherford 1986)
Improves English skills. English derives from German, so German and English grammar are fairly similar. This is not the only thing to come, it is only the beginning. A foreign language should not go down without a fight, especially with as many people in the class and club that enjoy it so much.

Maize is cutting German 1 in 2012-2013 and German all together 2013-2014.

By signing this, I agree that the Maize High School German Program should stay and will benefit future students.